No birding trip to Tucson, AZ is complete without the Reid Park Elegant Trogan search. (Step 1: margaritas, and lots of them.) visiting Mt. Lemmon at least one. Amazing spot for all sorts of “pine mountain,” etc. birds only seen at higher elevations. These shots from the beautiful Marshall Gulch trail in August, including “first time ever” of this lovely flycatcher:
Rough day Saturday for bird photography at Presque Isle State Park – overcast and gloomy. Not a lot of bird activity, either, except for great sightings of Pine Warbler (first BirdingPI.com sighting this year) along, appropriately, the Pine Tree Trail.
Swainson’s ThrushRed-eyed Vireo
Following are all believed Pine Warbler. ID notes: white wing bars, overall yellowish cast, + distinctive broken yellow/white eyering with dark eye line.
Not much bird activity here; Cardinal, Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Blue Jay, and this fine Brown Thrasher:
Thrashin’
Finally, a quick stop at the great Wakerobin Boardwalk Trail off Woodridge Ln:
Boardwalk view towards marshSwamp Rose Mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos) (aka Hardy Hibiscus)View down marsh NE from boardwalk
Bird activity: GBH, Barn Swallow and/or Tree Swallow, Wood Duck, American Crow, Song Sparrow (?), and the day’s highlight – and a BirdingPI.com ‘first sighting ever’ (!) – a beautiful female (or male w/ nonbreeding plumage) Bobolink:
Bobolink IAnother view of BobolinkBobolink IIIView back towards parking area
Here at BirdingPI.com, we’re heavy into leveraging AI. Soon everything will be computer generated, even the bird pictures. (After all, the quality of the content here can’t get much worse.)
Let’s compare commonly available tools for “writing a bar joke with a blue jay, a red-winged blackbird, and a northern flicker.”
Microsoft’s Bing: “A Blue Jay, a Red-winged Blackbird, and a Northern Flicker walk into a bar. The bartender looks at them and says, ‘What is this, some kind of joke?'” [<– actual result]
Open AI’s ChatGPT:
“Q: Why did the Blue Jay, the Red-winged Blackbird, and the Northern Flicker walk into a bar together?
A: Because they heard it was for the birds, and they wanted to wing it with some drinks and a peck-tacular time!” [<– actual result]
‘Real human being:’ “A Blue Jay, a Red-winged Blackbird, and a Northern Flicker walk into a bar. The bartender looks at them and tells the Blue Jay, ‘We don’t serve their kind here!'” [<– actual result]
You be the judge!
Greetings, earthling!
All photographs (real photographs of real birds) along one of the Long Pond boat landing access trails, Presque Isle State Park.
As forecast, a cloudy Saturday morning here in Erie County, PA. Good trail conditions at Presque Isle State Park, but today’s the Barber Institute’s Beast on the Bay obstacle race (starting 8:30AM, presumably from the Budny Beach area, ending at Waldameer Amusement Park), so expect busy conditions and some trails either in-effect closed (e.g. Dead Pond) or hard to access (e.g., Gull Point).
While waiting for more warbler or shorebird sightings, here’s recent content, off Long Pond, of BirdingPI.com’s “favourite heron regularly seen at Presque Isle.” (Sorry, GBH.)
Green Heron
“Word of mouth” reports indicate significant, if someone sporadic/variable, bird activity over the week at Presque Isle. Happy birding!
Not quite a warbler ‘wonderland’ last weekend, but the activity’s picking up; current BirdingPI.com “September warbler count” = 9 species.
These are recent sightings at Presque Isle State Park. First up, following’s likely all Cape May Warbler along the Pine Tree Trail; anecdotally, unusual amount of CMW activity this year.
Beautiful Palm Warbler in non-breeding plumage:
Another surprise, great to see this beautiful female Tennessee Warbler:
Beautiful Black-throated Green Warbler:
Moving away from Pine Tree Trail, here’s a Wilson’s Warbler (m) by Leo’s Landing:
Yellow Warbler at that same location (different days/times):
Finally for this post, a low-light shot of female Common Yellowthroat near Marina Lake:
On a cloudy Friday, the Erie County forecast calls for continued cloudy conditions over the weekend. Happy birding nevertheless!
A great area for birding in southern Arizona: the little town of Patagonia. Paton Center for Hummingbirds, Patagonia Lake State Park, Borderlands Wildlife Preserve, etc. And here, The Nature Conservancy’s Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve, a beautiful parcel of mixed woodland and grassland centered along a permanently-flowing section of Sonoita Creek.
Field/woods + visitors’ center (back left)Entrance signVisitors’ centerView from visitors’ center towards creekSonoita Creek
Great spot for local mammals (e.g., deer and javelina/peccary both seen), insects, flowers, plants, and plenty of birds like Gray Hawk. (Gray Hawk spotted several times on this outing; sadly, no good pictures.)
Vermilion Flycatcher (m)V. Flycatcher IIFlood plains parallel to Sonoita Creek
Lots of beautiful Pipevine Swallowtail (a.k.a. Blue Swallowtail)(Battus philenor):
Another view of Sonoita Creek
Probably Dusky-capped Flycatcher:
More hawk/tree @ Cooper’s Hawk:
Javelina (Peccary) in a mud wallow in the woodsFremont Cottonwood (Populus fremontii)
Bird of the day (besides Gray Hawk), the lovely not-a-parrot Western Tanager (m):
Broad-billed Hummingbird adjacent feeders at the visitors’ center (‘cheating mode’ – feeders cropped out):
Violet-crowned Hummingbird in walnut tree
Highly recommend a visit; closed on Mon/Tues. Entrance fee required with discount for TNC members.
No affiliation, but please consider supporting The Nature Conservancy and its important mission + great spots like this.
ABA Warning: This post Rated PG-13 for fish gore, bird-on-fish violence, and smoking. Viewer discretion is advised.
Dateline: 3 September 2023
A special report from BirdingPI.com’s occasional adjunct team in NE Ohio with a trip last Sunday to remarkable Lake Co, Ohio. Specifically, a great visit to Headlands Beach State Park and adjacent Mentor Marsh, Mentor, OH.
Zimmerman Trail trailhead
North end of Mentor Marsh (closest to Lake Erie) is Shipman Pond – great for Egrets, etc. (Tip: for easy access to Shipman Pond and SW end of Headlands Beach Park, park at the Zimmerman Trail lot off Headlands Rd and follow the blue-blazed trail across the road and through the park maintenance yard.)
Shipman Pond, view from roadGreat Egret @ Shipman PondBeach @ Headlands Beach State Park, view SWRing-billed GullBeach @ Headlands Beach State Park, view NE towards lighthouseLots and lots of gulls
Main beach at Headlands Beach is unremarkable (wide open and flat), but worth it for adjacent Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve = great mix of beach, grassy dunes, & woodland border.
Grassy dunesLeast Flycatcher
Couple nice shots of Cape May Warbler, showing a bit more typical colour:
Probably female/immature Blackpoll WarblerBlack-and-white WarblerGulls off Fairport Harbor West Breakwater LightHeadland Dunes State Nature Preserve, beach view SW from lighthouseBeach view NE towards lighthouseView SW of outer beach adjacent lighthouse at end of trail
Other than gulls, etc., no shorebird activity. But lots of Osprey, including this beautiful bird and its fish lunch:
Bonus post of content from the Mogollon Rim, Arizona area (& beyond!), back in August.
View SW from Mogollon Rim (from Rim Lakes Vista)
Appropriate for pine forest, a great sighting of a beautiful male Grace’s Warbler:
Pygmy NuthatchWhite-breasted Nuthatch (rear view)Another view from the rim
A bit off the Rim, on another day, @ Fort Apache Historic Park:
View (generally west) from Fort Apache museum
Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay @ Fort Apache:
Phainopepla (f)
Way far away, but similar environment @ Mt. Lemmon:
Common Raven
And a very cool sighting of Zone-tailed Hawk. Dark colouration like a Turkey Vulture, but note hawk beak, white band on tail, + underwing shading: light interior (w/ barring) and black/dark edges.
